Yeah, Most Probably
by LITERALLYLEN
Summary: On the cusp of his divorce, Hyde's baby girl asks him to tell her the stories of all the girl's he's ever loved, so she could try and figure out which was her ma. As he recalls the past, feelings churn to the forefront, and true love always prevails. A loosely inspired Au from the movie Definitely, Maybe.
1. Chapter 1

Yeah, Most Probably.

.-

 **~Madison, Wisconsin; October 22, 1993**

"Daddy? Was I a mistake?"

"What the hell!" Hyde jolts from where he's spilled a whole glass of apple juice on his henley in shock, and looks back down at his baby girl.

The dying afternoon light pans through the blinds, skipping over her bright blue eyes, and dances in her windswept curls, making it look like she's got on a golden halo. She's pretty like her mother, but also's got all of Hyde's hard edges carved in the pinch in her lips, and ever appraising stare. Hyde loves her more than what he knows what to do with most days. So he's shocked as all get out at her out of the blue question.

"Ooo you cursed!" She cackles with an excited little hop, flailing out one of her arms until Hyde finally relents and pulls a quarter out of his pocket, handing it over to a preening Rosalyn.

"At this rate I'll have a barbie bike by Christmas!"

"Yeah, yeah, just don't tell your ma hah?" Hyde grouses, dabbing his chest with a paper towel. He ultimately reasons that it's hopeless, and sheds it off before grabbing a wife beater from the pile of unfolded laundry in the living room, throwing his now soiled shirt into the hamper.

"Yo Rosie, get you're tush back in here."

All Hyde hears in return is a gargle of incomprehensible jabber, but thinks it's something close to "I'm brushing my teeth Daddy!" He just rolls his eyes, but can't help the impossibly fond grin that turns up the corners of his mouth.

"What's up?"

"What's up with me? What's up with you bug?"

She just hikes up her brows in a silent question, blue eyes staring back up at blue.

"What kinda question is that? Whether you were a mistake or not?"

Rosalyn just shrugs her dainty shoulders, fingers toying with the tips of her damp hair.

"'S what Betsy is."

"Wait— What?" Now Hyde's really confused.

"'S true!" Rosalyn insists, looking like for all the world she'll start stomping her feet and crossing her arms in indignation. "She told me so! Uncle Michael tells her she's his favorite little accident!"

"Hey, what'd I tell you about listening to anything Kelso says?"

"That I shouldn't cause Uncle Michael use to glue himself to the frigerator, and he's lucky cause Aunty Brooke is smart enough for the both of them."

"There's my baby girl," Hyde rubs a hand in her disheveled locks before padding off to the kitchen, pulling out the casserole Mrs. Forman had brought him earlier that morning. Because "I gotta make sure my baby boy, and my baby boy's baby is eating!"

Hyde kind of smiles to himself at the memory. He's never known what a mother's love is suppose to be— Edna having bounced on his ass the second she got her pre-baby bod back— running off with some Harley riding asshole without so much of a goodbye tossed Hyde's way— and W.B's wife, Eunice, having passed away over a year prior to Hyde's discovery of his true family lineage, which of course had been the catalyst for Angie finding out about him, and insisting that she finds her long lost baby brother before she loses any other of her family members.

He's beyond thankful that Kitty Forman is probably the most compassionate, effortlessly kind woman on this entire, fucked up planet, and she found something within Hyde to love, and smother with warmth. A love that's probably better than even Edna at her best could've offered.

But mostly, Hyde's thankful that his baby girl— his pride and joy— will never know the missing love of a parent.

"No but Daddy! "s true! Aunt Brooke even told Betsy that she was an accident! But she still loves her to the moon and back! Just like how you and mommy love me!"

Hyde hands her the spatula he just got finished using, watches as Rosalyn sets it in the dishwasher while he reheats their supper.

"Alright, so there's no problem. Betsy's still loved, just as much as her little brother, who _wasn't_ an accident. So why do you care Bug?"

"Ugh, Daddy! That's not my question!" He cocks a brow at her, watches amusedly as she begins pacing the length of their kitchen, lecturing at him just like every other woman in his crazy life. "'S just, how can you have a whole entire baby by accident! I mean what'd Uncle Michael do to get one by accident!" She's starting to get a little V in-between her brows, cheeks infused red with frustration, and seriously Hyde challenges anyone to look at that little face— angry over not understanding something way above her pay raise— and _not_ keel over in laughter at the sight.

"Daddy!" The skewer she gives him right then is the epitome of _if looks can kill_ , and that just makes Hyde cackle even harder. "This is so not funny! I'm just trying to understand! And don't even give me any of that garbage about the Bird and the egg!" Hyde clamps his mouth shut, effectively reprimanded. "You and mom must think I'm real stupid! I mean we're mammals! We don't hatch from eggs Daddy!"

"Ah, ah, ah. Not true Bug, platypi hatch from eggs and they're still mammals."

She eyes the finger Hyde's wagging at her with pure contempt.

"Platypuses, the plural of a platypus is just Platypuses."

"You're adopting you're uncle Eric's smart mouth, ya know that?" Hyde tells her, pulling out their plates from the microwave, and begins to pour them some drinks. (Slow this time, he's really not in the mood to do any more laundry than what's absolutely necessary).

"You still haven't answered my question Daddy," she prods, spearing a chunk of her meal with a little more force than necessary. Yeah she's definitely all him on the inside, and Hyde can't help but revel in that.

"How about we make a deal to put this little conversation on a raincheck till you're mom's around, and you're like twenty years older."

"Five years older."

"Twenty."

"Ten."

"Fifteen."

"Fine!"

"Fine," he hands her a napkin, and she thanks him. Gleefully noting that he's got a good amount suck in his beard.

"Oh crap."

"Ooo! That's another one daddy! Pay up!"

"Oh man, are you serious? You can't give me a freebie?"

"Hah," she scoffs with a lofty flip of the hair. "Gramps says that someone cheating you outta your doe is the worst offense."

"Yeah, well WB is a capitalist, big wig. You really wanna end up like that Bug?"

Rosalyn's eyes go wide, lips parted in utter astonishment. "Don't talk about gramps like that Daddy!"

"Right… I forgot you love'm more than me."

"Not more, just different," she smiles toothily, readily excepting the shiny new quarter Hyde handed over. "Ya know, just like how you and Mommy love each other differently now… not any less. Just different… right?"

There's a sudden static in the air— a strange stillness that Hyde can feel in his core. The same exact sensation Hyde always gets whenever Rosalyn speaks of the divorce, sounding defeatist and hopeful all at once. It's like he can feel it when his heart plunges somewhere deep in his chest, not only sad over his divorce, but the way it's so obviously hurting his baby girl— his one and only. Hyde'd do just about anything to get that brilliant, megawatt smile back on her lovely, round face.

"Yeah Bug, just different."

She nods, giving him a weak little smile. Trying to disguise her hurt just like Hyde has always done. And he hates that Rosalyn has hurt to hide now, hates that he's one of the people that it's stemmed out of— no matter how reluctantly.

"C'mon Bug," let's wash up before dinner. You're gonna have to brush your teeth again."

"Ugh, _daddy_ ," she roles back her entire head, but eventually hops off her stool and washes off her dinner plate before putting it away.

.-

"So, was I a mistake too?"

Hyde starts, glancing down at Rosalyn who's fresh mouthed once more, and peering up at him with a pink, fluffy unicorn clutched tight to her chest. "Am I like Betsy I mean?"

"Oh, no way Bug. You were completely on purpose. You're Ma was crazy about finally having you." Her eyes brighten, just so.

"Cool, I'm glad I'm not an accident. Or else I'd be the same as Ben Friedman peeing on himself."

Hyde huffs out a little laugh, pulling her up into his arms.

"You're a weird little kid, you know that?"

"Well you raised me Daddy. You got some 'splainin' to do!"

Hyde just cocks a brow at her, to which she just grins with absolute glee.

"No more watching tv with you're Uncle Fez,"he tells her deadpanned.

"Sucks to you daddy, it was with Aunt Laurie! Uncle Fez was at work last time they babysat."

Hyde just roles his eyes before plunging his fingers into her ribs, tickling her until she screams uncle three times over.

"Not fair daddy! You're bigger than me! I'm just a wittle girl."

He shakes his head at her exasperated pout, pulling out a blanket from her closet, and wrapping her up for bed.

"Yeah well how about you actually finish all your vegetables on your plate, and then you'll grow bigger and stronger than even me?"

Rosalyn just shutters with a decidedly grossed out expression spread across her delicate features.

"Nope, no way, the price is to high! Besides mommy says that girls are s'pose to be pretty like me!"

"Ya know Bug, modesty is a good color on you."

With just a sage sort of nod, Rosalyn thanks him. , the sarcasm going right over her perfect, little head.

"Thanks Daddy."

"Anytime Bug," he kisses her forehead before stretching up and heading towards the colossal bookshelf on the left wall. "So what you in the mood for tonight? Some Mother Goose? Or what about a little big bad wolf action?"

Hyde gets concerned when Rosalyn doesn't answer him back with an enthusiastic decision straight away. Story time is probably the girl's favorite part of the day after all.

Pivoting on his heels, Hyde finds a very downtrodden looking Rosalyn, gaze transfixed on the open window and towards the starlit skyline, not meeting Hyde's eyes.

"Hey Bug? What's up with the long face?" He tugs on one of her pale pigtails before collapsing besides her on the twin sized mattress.

"Daddy, how'd you and mommy meat? You guys never told me."

Hyde's only a bit taken aback at the non sequitur, but was also kind of expecting it. After all, It only makes sense that Rosalyn's trying to grasp onto the last vestiges of the relationship that was the bedrock of her life up until this point. Until they're divorce.

He feels a whole new wave of guilt churning against his chest.

"C'mon Rosie, you know. Boy meets girl. Girl meets boy. And then all the cr—stuff… All the stuff that follows."

She eyes him scoldingly for the near slip up, but then just drops her gaze back down. As if she doesn't have it in her to even play along with their little game.

"Yuh, but I don't know any of the romantic stuff! Like your first date! Or you're first kiss! Ooo, or When you guys knew that you loved each other more than anyone else!" She deflates again, probably remembering that they don't love each other in that way any longer, if they ever had.

"You really wanna know all that boring stuff?" Hyde snorts, pulling her close into a his embrace.

"Course I do! Like, erm. How many girls did you date besides mommy?"

"Date? Like, you mean go out with multiple times?"

"Ah, duh! What else would I mean daddy!"

Hyde hates how his cheeks flush before averting his gaze with a breathy sort of chuckle, feeling Rosalyn's eyes on him all the while.

"Oh ah nothing kid. Nothing at all. Nothing you _ever_ have to worry about. _Ever!"_

Her lips twist up in severe irritation, but Rosalyn thankfully doesn't press him on the subject. Just nudges him to answer her question.

"Ah, I've only had a couple other _serious_ girlfriends besides your ma baby girl."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm, and you're mom has only had two other fellas besides me."

Rosalyn worries on her lip, eyes darting around her room before catching sight of a little notebook on her desk. The most animated he's seen her for the past hour, Rosalyn leaps from her pink duvet, and grabs the notebook and a marker before snuggling back in her sheets besides Hyde.

"Did you love any of them? Anyone other than mommy?"

"Hey? What's with the third degree here Bug?"

"I've found a new idea for bedtime stories," she shrugs with one of her shoulders, while her other hand is flying across the sheet of paper.

"Something I'll like? Cause I bet not."

The smear she gives Hyde right then is all Angie, equal parts mischief and a self assurance that she'll get her way.

Hyde hates that she's probably right— What can he say? His baby girl's got him wrapped around her littlest finger. And the worst part is that he really doesn't mind.

"Alright, so why don't ya tell me now so I can come up with an excuse not to do it."

"Daddy!"

"Bug!"

She huffs, and he blows her a raspberry.

"You are such a boy!"

"Well I'm _you're_ Daddy! Sooo, _Rosalyn_ , _you've got some 'splainin' to do_."

She collapses back in sheer exhaustion over his admittedly lame joke.

"C'mon daddy! Please!"

"Fine, fine Bug. I'll listen."

She beams up at him, grabbing the marker once more, and starts to doodle on the paper once more.

"Let's make a new bet!" Hyde cocks a brow in curiosity. "If I win, you gotta buy me a Malibu Barbie, with her dream house, and a bicycle to match!"

"Right… This sounds like a pretty bum deal so far Bug."

"Cause you gotta let me finish!"

Hyde raises his hands in concession, gesturing for her to carry on.

"And if _you_ win," she jabs her marker at him. "I'll give you back all the money from you're swear jar, and do a _whole month_ of free chores!"

"Is that right?" Hyde smirks at her business savvy attitude, W.B would be so totally proud of his little grand baby.

"Yes, of course." She sniffs. "Now deal or no deal?"

"Hold your little horses little mis, I don't even know what the bet's about," Hyde points out.

"Oh shoot," she snaps her fingers like a parody from an old time movie. "I was hoping you'd forget about that detail."

"Not a chance," he chuckles, flicking her on the back of the head playfully.

"Ugh, fine. I wanna find out you and mommy's love story! But like a scavenger hunt!"

"Excuse me?"

"You said you dated only a couple girls besides mommy right?" Hyde nods, cautious. "Well, I wanna hear all their stories, and from their I'll figure out which is mommy!"

Hyde gives her a one eyed squint, nervous about how this could turn so easily on him.

"And what if you get it wrong?"

Rosalyn just shrugs.

"Then you win, and you've got a month of free chores outta me. But if I guess before the end, then I win! And I get an early Christmas!"

Hyde should probably decline. He should tell her no, that she has no business knowing so much of his past— especially at such a young age. It should be easy.

But just as Hyde's parting his lips to say as much, he catches the hope twinkling in her big, sapphire eyes. He realizes this is as much for her closure over his and her mother's divorce over anything else. Knows that he's got to do this for her, for his baby girl.

With an emphasized exhale from his nostrils, Hyde begrudgingly agrees.

"Fine."

Rosalyn's whole entire face gapes in utter shock, but then she's squealing with uninhibited mirth and bouncing on her bed with excitement.

"Hold it Bug, some ground rules." She settles down at that, but is still smiling like a total lune. "First, I'll be changing everyone's name, so you have no hints to who any of the girls are."

"Deal!"

"Second, you need to tell me if you want to stop. Or if this isn't fun anymore. We'll stop right there, and we'll call it a draw. capisce?"

A still positively beaming Rosalyn smacks their hands together to shake, gleefully snatching up her favorite stuffed unicorn and snuggling into the blankets and tugging on Hyde's arm.

"C'mon Daddy! Let's start tonight! Tell me the first part of the story!"

Hyde sighs, but ultimately relents, sliding back up against the headboard of the white, wooden bed frame.

"Fine, but only ten minutes Bug. Then you've gotta go to bed. You've got school early tomorrow morning."

"M'kay! Fine! Just start will you!" She pleads, and Hyde just chuckles, taking extra long to get comfortable just to tease her.

"Daddy!"

"Okay, okay! Now where should we start."

Hyde thumbs his chin, really trying to figure out where to begin the story Rosalyn is begging to hear.

Ultimately he decides that there's no better place than the start.

"Alright Bug, we're gonna have to go back in time. Way back in 1978, in Chicago of all places."

.-

.-

 **Author's Note: akljoiajeklfjad Yaya I didn't lie to ya'll! I told you I had a J/H multi chap up my sleeves ;) Now if ya'll didn't get the hint from the title, this is a very lightly inspired version of the movie Definitely, Maybe. I just like the premise, and decided that I needed to make a J/H version, but of course. So I'll be straight up with you guys, I've mostly written one-shots on my Tumblr for the past couple years, just cause I find multi-chaps daunting. I'm always over thinking like crazy and am so nervous of publishing what I've got. So i'll definitely be updating at least once every couple weeks, but I'm really trying to take this lightly, I psyche myself out way to often.**

 **But anyways, this is the first chap out of 11 , and if you know the movie— things will definitely be different, but please don't spoil anyhow— just incase ;)**

 **I would love you for forever and a day if you actually let me know what you thought of this prologue-esque chapter, and any ideas you might already have;)**

 **I can't wait to hear from you sugarplums!**

 **All My Love**

 **~Lennix**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yeah, Most Probably**

.-

 **Chapter I**

 **.-**

 **Small Suburb of Chicago, Illinois; December 14, 1978.**

It came in a manilla envelope, a big clunk of a thing. The writing on it's face is flippant, and adorned with so many loops that Hyde knew it was a woman who sent it to him before even reading the name on the return address.

 _Angie Barnett_.

Hyde still questions why he'd even been compelled to tare open the lip. Why he tugged out the letter— written in a shimmering silver pen on a fruity smelling sheet of paper— and the copy of his birth certificate. Something he's never even bothered to look up. Not when he was a kid being left alone for days on end while his parents were out getting drunk off their asses for who knows how long. Not when he was a preteen getting the snot beaten out of him by his uncle of the week when he dared step out of line. Especially not on his eighteenth birthday, over a year after Edna had abandoned him in the middle of his junior year to follow her flighty dreams of making it big on broadway with some toad faced biker who told her he thought she could _really be something_ , when Hyde had received a pathetic looking postcard of the Empire State Building with her name written on the bottom. His ma telling'm that she hopes Hyde makes something out of himself, written in her messy, almost vindictive scrawl on the back of it. Like her hand was still angry of all the bullshit she was dealt for this lifetime, and decided to take it out on any slip of paper she could find.

Mother of the fucking year.

So yeah… Honestly, what was the point of ever looking up his birth certificate? Hyde has always known who birthed him, , how he was brought up. How he's not worth a damn because of it. Always known that no one could ever love him for long, even when they were legally obligated to. Knows that the only chick who he's ever even began to give a shit about— someone he's started to let himself trust, bit by bit, was the only person who has actually ever looked out for him— iF even slightly— Sneaking'm in the basement of her place in the middle of the night, after only a few weeks of dating. Just so he wouldn't have to face the harshness of a Wisconsin winter on his own. Standing strong against her parents once they discovered him hiding out in their laundry room, convincing them that he deserves their help, that she won't let him become a dirtbag dropout.

"Buttercup, he's already a dirtbag! What'd be so bad if he just completed the other half of his fate?"

"Daddy, you've always taught me to do the right thing. This is the right thing!" Jill's eyes— pale green in the dark— shone with emotion, and Hyde knew right then that he didn't deserve her dedication, but was still beyond grateful that he had it. Thankful they somehow convinced their next door neighbor, Mr. Wilder— a cooky, lonely old man who's kids rarely visited— that he needs Hyde to help him around the place, in exchange for room and board.

Hyde knows full and well that his managing to graduate high school was all her doing, and appreciates how Jill's never even mentioned it, not once. Appreciates that she still looks at him as if Hyde's single handedly placed all the stars in the sky, and hung the moon while he was at it. Appreciates how she could say that she loves him without a flinch, and can tell him that he's gonna be something great, like it wasn't a lie.

But mostly he appreciates that she doesn't hate him for never really been able to say those words back to her. Not right after sex, when they're tangled in limbs and sheets, and the moonlight is reflecting in her eyes like a shimmering prism. Or when her head rests on his shoulder, bathing in the sweltering, summer sun, her lemon scented hair tickling his nostrils and the tip of her nail tracing random designs on his slick skin

Jill's a total babe, smart too! She could do a whole lot better than some orphan burnout, that's for fucking sure. He should be beyond grateful that she ever gave him the time of day during the dumb as fuck Homecoming dance junior year, back when she was a fresh faced city girl looking for a little danger, and found it in the denim jacket wearing, rock and roll listening, cop evading punk that drank behind the bleachers while the rest of the school rallied for which ever sport was being played.

Hyde likes Jill, likes her a whole lot. Likes how she can drink him under the table, that she's low key in any displays of affection, but can still kiss like nobody's business. Likes that when she tells him he's gonna make something of himself, he actually believes it. Hyde really does like her, and just supposes that there's something irrecoverably wrong with him. That there's something fucked in his DNA that prevents him from ever being able to feel that way— or at the very least be able to say he does. For hell's sake, Hyde's never heard Edna or Bud even allude to loving each other. That they even care for one another, _in any real capacity_. So that's probably it. Hyde's just predisposed with the incapability of ever uttering those three little words.

But then again, that's probably a load of crap, if the names printed on what's presumably a legitimate copy of his birth certificate are to be believed.

"What's that?" Jill saunters over to the front porch, clad in a delicious looking jumper, and a mug of steamy coco in each of her hands. She's got one of her brows kinked, like she expects that Hyde'll be sick at any moment, and wants to strategically protect her pretty, new moccasins.

Hyde doesn't blame her though. His eyes frantically scan, and rescan the letter clutched in his grasp from beneath his tinted shades— trying to decide whether he doesn't believe the contents, or doesn't want to believe them, or wants to believe them so desperately that he's about to hurl.

In any scenario, Jill's moccasins are goners.

"Hyde?" Jill presses, taking a seat besides him on the bench, and disregarding the drinks on the small, glass table in front of them. "What's going on?"

"It's um, erm. It's a letter from my dad."

She jolts back, stunned.

"Bud? He's back in town?"

"Nah man. Not him."

Her frown deepens, brows furrowed. But instead of explaining it— which Hyde seriously doubts he could do while keeping up his facade of zen— he just gives a shake to the letter in his hands. This girl's got his best interest at heart, if nothing else, Hyde could believe that. It's why he doesn't put up a fight when she pulls the papers from his grasp, and reads over them with her own eyes.

Hyde breathes in slow, doesn't let himself obsess over the gargle of words that threaten to teeter his world off orbit. Words that could quite possibly alter everything he's ever believed about himself, everything he's ever known.

No, Hyde can't think of any of that or else he'll start hyperventilating like a fucking wimp, and then the black blotches in his vision will return, and he'll probably pass out before he could actually make a decision. And just no. No to all of that.

Instead, Hyde focusses on how Jill's finger traces the lines she's reading. How the cascading snowflakes from above fleck in her curling hair, making it look like a fluffy cloud of honey. Thumbs the consolation of stars she'd gotten tattooed on the underside of her wrist right after graduation last year.

Hyde thinks Jill's always trying to do things like that. Things that are brave, and bold, and splendid in their fierceness. Actions that are as bright and beautiful as her. But he also knows that behind that artifice of trying to be larger than life, Jill has always loved the security of a small town— strived for the ideal of having a nuclear family of her own one day. Has always basked in the unconditional love her parents had showered her with since birth. Something Hyde's never experienced himself… Something he might now have the opportunity too understand for the very first time.

Hyde doesn't notice when Jill finishes reading Angie's letter, and trades it to glance at his birth certificate. First the prints of his hand and foot, Then his name, and finally the names of his parents.

 _Edna Jean Briggs_

 _William Malcom Barnett_

Her pretty pale eyes flicker up to him, face slack and fist clenched so tight that her knuckles have faded white.

"It doesn't say Bud Hyde…"

"Naw, naw it doesn't."

"Then… What? Bud's not you're Pa?"

Hyde ducks his head, but he can feel Jill's gaze boring into him all the while.

"What does this mean?" Her words are untethered, a tone of voice he knows she only gets when she's terrified. A lot like him in that way. Prepared to pretend as if she's fine before she can get hurt.

"I dunno man. I guess it means that I'm not Bud's illegitimate kid," Hyde tries to say in a voice that doesn't shake. (He knows full and well that he fails.) "The prick's gotta be dancing like crazy in joy over that one, huh?"

Jill doesn't laugh, but in all fairness, Hyde didn't really expect her to.

"Bud's not you're father…" She says slow, as if this effects her directly. As if this even touches her perfect, little bubble.

Fuck, Hyde hates doing that. Hates that he's going after her when she's the only person who's actually still here, with him. Hates that Edna's not here for him to yell at.

"You… Steven you have another father."

Hyde just shrugs, doesn't confirm or deny Jill's words. He can't face them if he's being completely honest.

"Hyde this is huge!" Jill's lips wobble, eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "This girl is your sister! I mean did you even read this—"

"Jill," Hyde leans forward, unclasping their interlocked hands. "Cool it, alright." There are a million thoughts swarming in his mind, but he Doesn't feel like he even can piece together any semblance of words that'd make sense.

It's all just… too much.

"But Steven-"

"Jill, seriously!"

It's like he can see it when her words die on her lips, and her shoulders collapse into themselves. THey're at a total standstill, and Hyde has no idea how to escape it without letting off a landmine that'd destroy everything they've built.

"Steven," she eventually manages to Croke out. ,"Can you just look at me! Give me a hint that you actually fucking feel something!"

Hyde doesn't.

"Hyde, please. I need to know what's going on in your head. As your girlfriend, okay! I need to know as the man who I know I want to spend the rest of my life with, I just-"

"Who the hell ever said that!" Steven has always known what points to poke to make someone mad, make them weak. Knows just how to make someone hate him. He hates that he's doing that to her now. Jill's amazing, but nothing feels right anymore. Everything feels cramped and tight, and that Hyde's being choked with a sudden dose of reality. He can't be mixing shit about the future in with this total mess that is his life.

His heart feels like led when he sees the way Jill's jaw starts to shake, the way she tries to stand tall, but can't. He hates that he's single handedly made her dissolve into such a state.

"I know you're hurting, but that gives you no right to lash out at me." She's right, he knows she's right, but he can't find it in himself to tell her as much.

 _"_ _Steven, I love_ you."

Like every time before those words were uttered by her, Steven doesn't reply.

He opts to collect what's been mailed to him, and retreat to the nice suburban house he's never called home.

He kind of hates himself for it, but it's just… too much.

 **Madison, Wisconsin; October 22, 1993.**

"Daddy she was only trying to help." Rosalyn pokes him in the chest, scoldingly. And Hyde doesn't blame her for it.

"I know baby girl, but hey, I was a bratty teenager."

"Without a mom or daddy," Rosalyn nods consolingly, patting his bicep like she was trying to comfort him. "'S okay daddy, at least mommy didn't have to see you be such a big doofus."

Hyde cocks a brow at her, questioning.

"Oh yeah, and how'd ya know that?"

Rosalyn just rolls her eyes at him, crossing the name Kat off her little diagram without even a second thought.

"Daddy this is a love story! Everyone knows that the guy doesn't end up with their first love! That's like a practice round for the real thing, _duh_."

Hyde chuckles, a little bit impressed, and a little bit terrified at her logic.

"Yeah well I promised only ten minutes of this story thing, and it's been half an hour. You've gotta go to bed Bug."

"But daddy!" Hyde just raises a hand in silence. "Ugh, _fine_."

Rosalyn nestles back in her quilts, breaths evening out almost as soon as she shut her lids, and Hyde just smiles down at her, cards a hand in her big curls before pressing a kiss onto her forehead and padding off to his own room.

But he can't fall to sleep nearly as easily as his daughter, long forgotten memories surging to the forefront of his mind, and playing out all over again.

 **Small Suburb of Chicago, Illinois; December 22, 1978.**

They don't talk for nearly two weeks after that night.

Hyde spends his days placidly working as a cook at some ranky-dank hotel, trying to collect enough checks to move out Mr. Wilder's basement, while spending every spare moment pouring over Angie's letter. Over and over again, but never having enough nerve to respond. But for the most part, his days are spent feeling guilty as hell for how he spoke to Jill, and could barely stand even running into her. She deserves so much fucking more, and Hyde just needs her to understand that at the very least.

But if there's anything he knows about Jill Humphrey, it's that she has never given up on him. That's why Hyde's almost expectant on the eleventh night of their ultra silence, finding her on Mr. Wilder's porch… face lit by candle light, and small, impossibly apologetic smile toying the edges of her thin lips.

It feels inevitable the way he just cups his hands around her face before kissing her full on the mouth. A cacophony of lips, and teeth and spit, that she returns ten fold.

Jill locks her hands around Hyde's neck, pulling him tight against her on this edge of ardent. And Hyde thinks that this is what mending should feel like.

Hates that with every clash of their lips, his first thought is still dedicated to the letter that could change everything for him, and not on this girl who has always tried to ease his hurt.

.-

The early winter breeze flutters through the open blinds, and tickles their naked skin.

Hyde unclasps her bra before peppering a series of kisses along Jill's collar bone, sliding an eager hand down to her ass. This'd usually be the point where Jill let's out a little gasp of a chuckle, writhing up in pleasure while tugging him closer, but instead, she seems to have gone rigid— tense even.

Hyde pushes back from where he was nuzzling the juncture of her neck and shoulder, to find Jill's eyes brimming with wetness.

"Woah! what the fuck," Hyde jumps back, heart pounding and feeling like he's been burned. ""Jill, man! What's wrong!"

He all but sprints to where she's now moved to sitting up on the bed— blouse half hazardly pulled back on, and pretty face streaked with tears.

"Hey, babe, it's fine man. I'm here," Hyde wraps an arm around her shoulders, a bit awkwardly, but feeling a fierce need to make her hurt dissipate. Absolutely despises the fact that he might be the cause for this pain. "I'm right here."

"B-But that's just it Hyde!" She gags out, rubbing a hand over her tear stained eyes, and sniffling deep. "You're not. Or well, you won't be for long."

Hyde freezes, utterly confused, but Jill doesn't give him the chance to ask what in fuck's sake she's talking about because she's already shuffling to the opposite wall, pulling something out of her purse that's just out of Hyde's line of view.

"Hyde, I love you. And I _know_ you love me too," she swivels her gaze around, daring him to dispute her.

Hyde doesn't.

""And well, if there's one thing my parents have taught me… It's that we do things that make the people we love happy, even if it kills us on the inside."

Hyde stills, starting to understand her words, and feeling a wicked twist in his gut at the implication.

"Jill… What'd you do?"

Jill sits on the bed besides Hyde once more, interlaces their hands and sniffles before continuing.

"Angie's a nice girl, me and her actually know some of the same people believe it or not," Jill actually lets out a little titter right then, sealing the fact that she's probably the strongest person on this planet, and confusing Hyde all the more.

"Jill—"

She doesn't let him get a word in edge wise.

"Look Steven, you deserve a whole hell of a lot of things I can't even list right now, but most of all, you deserve a family that appreciates and loves you the ways that I do… Even if that means that you have to leave me behind" She averts her gaze, and Hyde can just barely catch her swiping away another round of tears.

"I love you, and that's why I bought you these," she hands him the pair of tickets. The first leaving from Chicago to Milwaukee this upcoming Saturday, and the next from Milwaukee to Madison later that morning. "I looked'm up… Barnett I mean. He's a pretty big deal in Wisconsin believe it or not. Even running for governor."

"Fuck," Hyde gapes and Jill just smiles like the sun.

"I know, totally righteous!" "She puts his hands into her's once more, looks at Hyde straight in the eyes."Hyde he wants to meat you, his only son. He wants to create a bond with you and his daughter, and I know it in my heart that you want to do the same. So _please_ , except this from me. Meat Angie at the train station this Christmas morning, and let yourself be happy. _Please_ , for me Steven. _Please do this_."

Hyde just keeps on staring at her, equal parts amazed and astounded by this angel of a woman.

"Thank you," he hears himself say, but it still kind of feels like he's levitating. "And us?"

She holds up the pads of her fingers to his lips, quieting him without words.

"Steven, it's not that long of a trip. Three hours at most." Her mouth dips into a small, hopeful smile, kissing him on the cheek. "We can make it, ya know. If you don't get all, _son of a governor_ on me."

Hyde actually laughs, kissing her with emotions he can't even begin to understand.

Hyde feels something like hope for the first time in a long time.

.-

 **Author's Note: Just a real quick, and gigantic thank you to all the gorgeous souls who are actually reading this fun little story! Seeing ya'll putting me on your story alerts and favs, it means the absolute world to me!**

 **But an especially huge thanks to the gorgeous few who actually left a comment below! Reading what you thought truly inspires me to continue and makes me so thankful that you spare your time to communicate to me! I love you guys lots! And I just responded to you all lolXd**

 **And another quick note, no the Kat I wrote in the flash forward wasn't a mistake, we're just gonna suspend our disbelief and pretend Hyde's filtering out the naughty bits, and names of the girls to his daughter, m'kay? Cool Xd**

 **I really, really hope I can hear what you thought below! And pretty please lmk if you have any questions at all!**

 **All My Love!**

 **~Lennix**


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